Beth's Reviews > Phantom Thief Jeanne, Vol. 1

I've read almost twenty of Ms. Tanemura's manga volumes by now. This is one of her earlier series, perhaps even her first after some standalone stories, and this first volume of Phantom Thief Jeanne has many of the same strengths as her more recent titles. The art is beautiful, with plenty of dynamic character movement and flowing cloth. Floral highlights and screen tone add a girly, sparkly effect. It's worth a look for the art alone, although I wouldn't recommend this to someone new to manga, since it's more stylized than many other titles.

Marron's emotions and facial expressions are front and center; her schooldays troubles and her superhero adventures play off of each other well, whether funny or poignant. So far Marron seems to be avoiding the melodramatically self-destructive impulses of Tanemura's later heroines, so that's good. The story is this manga's weakness. It feels more-or-less stream of consciousness from episode to episode, without a strong narrative throughline. And the "magical girl" formula, fresh and interesting to the fans of twenty years ago, comes across as stale and repetitive now.